Cards of Notable Relevance

Blue Eyes White Dragon

The signature card of Seto Kaiba, it is considered to be one of the strongest monsters in the anime. Its attack is White Lightning in the English anime, and Burst Stream of Destruction (滅びの爆裂疾風弾) in the Japanese anime. In the manga and anime, there are only four in the entire world (held by Collectors in Japan, Germany, Hong Kong and America)[1] the explanation being that the card was considered "too powerful" and therefore discontinued. Kaiba, who dreams of owning all of them, acquires three of them through underhanded tactics such as a mafia deal, forcing the owner into bankruptcy and forcing one to commit suicide (though it is implied he had the person killed). Only three of one card can be in one's deck at a time, and the fourth Blue-Eyes belonged to Sugoroko Mutuo, which Kaiba ripped up so it can never be used against him.[1] Soon afterward Kaiba begins using all three of his Blue-Eyes cards in his deck, fusing them via Polymerization to form the three-headed Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, one of the most powerful monsters in the game. The card becomes Kaiba's trademark and motif, as he owns a jet, a dueling arena and a theme park all based on the beast, as well as a card Kaibaman modeled after Kaiba to support the Blue-Eyes. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode in which Kaibaman's spirit appears, he has the same voice, deck and mannerisms as Kaiba.[2] Kaiba's appearance of a white coat and bright blue eyes also conjure the dragon's image, and in the PlayStation 2 video game Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses, Kaiba's armor is modeled after the Blue-Eyes.

In the final season of the anime, the dragon is revealed to be the spirit of Kisara, a young woman who was captured by Akhenaden. Kaiba's past incarnation, Priest Seto, fell in love with Kisara and defended her to the death. After Akhenaden killed her and possessed Seto, Kisara's spirit entered Seto's mind and destroyed Akhenaden. The love the two shared is the reason why Kaiba was driven to claim all the Blue-Eyes cards in the present. In the anime, the monster itself is described by Zorc as "the ultimate creature of light," with power greater than that of the three God Cards. In the anime, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's power is further demonstrated by being the first monster who deals actual damage to Zorc. Even Exodia, considered by many in the anime to be invincible, was unable to do this, as Zorc quickly regenerated the injuries he sustained from Exodia.

Cyber Dragon/Cyberdark Dragon

Cyber Dragon is the signature card of Zane Truesdale in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime, and a staple for many tournament decks in the TCG and OCG. Cyber Dragon is a five star monster that can be special summoned if your opponent has a monster on the field but you don't. Three Cyber Dragons can be fused into Cyber End Dragon, a monster with 4000 ATK points, creating one of the strongest monsters in the game in terms of attack. Although, in the current Ban List, you can only have one Cyber Dragon in your deck. The Cyberdark cards are the counterpart to the Cyber Dragon series, and make their debut in season 2 of GX. They consist of Cyberdark Keel, Cyberdark Edge and Cyberdark Horn, and they can be fused to create Cyberdark Dragon. The Cyberdark strategy revolves around equipping Level 3 or lower Dragon-type monsters and gaining their attack strength, or fusing them to create Cyberdark Dragon who can equip any dragon in the grave, as well as gain attack power proportionate to the number of monsters in your graveyard.

Cyber-Stein

Cyber-Stein or Devil Franken in the OCG , which is named after Frankenstein. At the cost of 5000 Life Points this card allowed a player to Special Summon a Fusion monster without using Polymerization or material monsters.

Cyber-Stein has been the subject of two controversies in the history of the card game. Cyber-Stein was originally printed only for winners of Shonen Jump Championship competitions, with the first card having a bid placed on eBay for over 20,000 US dollars.[3] The buyer did not pay,[3] however and the card was resold for approximately $7,000 USD. The card is now available as a rare in Dark Beginning 2, however this card is banned from most tournaments.

Dark Armed Dragon

Dark Armed Dragon, commonly abbreviated to DAD, is commonly played in the winning Shonen Jump tournament decks and it is based on Chazz Princeton's Armed Dragon cards. Dark Armed Dragon is a Level 7 2800/1000 DARK monster that can only be special summoned by having exactly 3 DARK Monsters in the graveyard. While it is on the field, one can remove one DARK monster from the graveyard to destroy one card on the field. When this card is released, a common strategy was to use cards such as Dark Grepher and Armageddon Knight to send DARK monsters to the graveyard, then remove them, and use recursion effects such as Return from a Different Dimension, and Dimension Fusion to swarm your opponent to win. As a result, it was restricted to two per deck (semi-limited) and now it is restricted to one (limited).

Dark Magician

This is anime protagonist Yugi Muto's signature card. In the manga and anime, Yugi often uses the Dark Magician against various foes, making it his signature monster card. When in a duel against a strong foe (Maximillion Pegasus), Yugi often 'evolves' Dark Magician to stronger forms using ritual and spell cards. The Magician of Black Chaos and Dark Magician of Chaos are examples of its more powerful forms, along with Sorcerer Of Dark Magic, Dark Sage and Dark Eradicator Warlock.

There is another Dark Magician-type monster called Dark Magician Girl, which Yugi starts using in the Battle City arc of the manga and anime. Whilst it is weaker than Dark Magician, it gains attack points for every Dark Magician in either Graveyard.

The Dark Magician girl also has another form that Pegasus uses in season 3 against Kaiba called Toon Dark Magician girl used with Toon World.

In the final arc of the manga and anime, a priest named Mahado served under Pharaoh Atem, using the Millennium Ring. In a fatal battle against Bakura, he allows himself to be killed so his spirit can become the Dark Magician. His apprentice, Mana, later becomes Dark Magician Girl.

Egyptian God Cards

The most powerful cards in the game, they have a variety of powerful effects and there is only one copy of each in the manga. However, yugi defeats all three of them at once in his duel against Atem in Dawn Of The Duel. These are banned from most tournaments.

Exodia

Exodia Necross

Also known by its full title "Exodia the Forbidden One" (and at one time, the Great Defender of Egypt), Exodia is commonly perceived in the anime and manga as being among the strongest of all Duel Monsters. Although Exodia is typically shown as being summoned and attacking in the anime, its actual effect activates in the hand: players who gather all five Exodia parts in their hand can declare an automatic victory, regardless of Life Points. Exodia is split into a head, and four limbs (two arms and two legs). The story of why and how it was split and sealed is revealed in the final season, when its original master, Shimon fragmented it because it was too powerful. However, when Zorc attacked the palace, Shimon released the beast to do battle with him. Although the two traded blows with near-equal power, Exodia lost because it was summoned by Shimon's energy, and thus when Shimon could no longer power it, Exodia was destroyed by Zorc.

Exodia has a few counterpart cards. Exodia Necross, a ghostly, necromantic version of it, which is summoned by the effect of the Spell Card Contract with Exodia and can only be used when the pieces of Exodia are already in the Graveyard. Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord, which is summoned by returning all monsters in the Graveyard to your deck, and when it attacks, you can send any monster to the grave from your deck, when all "the Forbidden One" cards are sent to the graveyard by its effect, the player wins the game. And Exxod, Master of the Guard, found in the Structure Deck "Invincible Fortress". It's important to note that the Exodia Head (identified as Exodia the Forbidden One) is an Effect Monster while the four limbs are all Normal Monsters.

Jinzo

Jinzo (known in Japan as Android Psycho Shocker) is a DARK Machine-type, Level 6 monster, requiring one tribute to summon. It has reasonable ATK and DEF stats, but its true power lies in its effect; with Jinzo on the field, no trap cards can be activated, and trap cards already on the field are negated. For this reason, it is a powerful card in many decks due to the ability to attack largely without surprises. Its DARK Attribute is also a boon, giving it a considerable degree of synergy with many decks (such as the above-mentioned Dark Armed Dragon-based deck). Jinzo has many support cards, such as Amplifier, which allows you to activate traps even while Jinzo is on the field; Jinzo - Returner, which can summon a Jinzo from the graveyard for one turn; and Jinzo - Lord, an advanced, more powerful version of Jinzo that can destroy the trap cards that were face up on the field when it was summoned.

In the anime, Jinzo was one of Joey Wheeler's best cards. He won it in a duel against Espa Roba in the Battle City arc of the second series anime, and uses it in his deck for the rest of the series. In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, a dedicated Jinzo deck is used by Makoto Inotsume. Minta gambar Gan!!

Judgment Dragon

Often compared to Dark Armed Dragon in terms of sheer power, Judgment Dragon (Judgment Dragoon in Japan) can be seen as the LIGHT counterpart of DAD and is, currently, one of the strongest Duel Monsters, debuting regularly in Lightsworn Decks at Shonen Jump and other high-level tournaments. It is the trump card of the Lightsworns archetype, a 3000/2600 LIGHT Dragon monster that can only be special summoned while there are four or more Lightsworn monsters with different names in the player's graveyard. Judgment's Dragon effects include the self-milling typical of the Lightsworns, which will send the top four cards of the player controlling it at the end of each of his/her turns, and the ability to destroy every other card on the field, but not itself, by paying 1000 life points. Judgment Dragon was infamous in that players dropped one Dragon, wiped the field, then dropped the other two for one winning swing, which made this card restricted to a maximum of two copies per deck.

Kuriboh

Kuriboh (クリボー,Kuribō?) has been used in Yugi's Deck, and has been seen many times. It initially appeared alone, but later became one of Five Kuriboh Brothers, each with a different ability ranging from combining into new forms of Kuriboh to blocking an opponent's strike. Kuriboh also has a counterpart, Winged Kuriboh(ハネクリボー,Hane Kuribō?), who serves as a Duel Spirit and card in Jaden's Deck.[4] It was given to Jaden from Yugi in the first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.[5] Winged Kuriboh has two alternative forms: Winged Kuriboh LV10 and Winged Kuriboh LV9. Winged Kuriboh LV10 was used by Jaden in his duel against Chazz to defeat his VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon.[6]. A female variation, the Kuribon, was introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's as part of Luna's (Ruka) Fairy/Spirit deck.

Kuribohs have the ability to negate battle damage. Thanks to this ability Kuriboh is sometimes side decked to counter "One Turn Kill" Decks.[7] The Kuriboh series is backed up with a few support cards. One of which, The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh, can be used for tech in Monarch decks, either to place a Kuriboh in hand to block the aforementioned One Turn Kill, or to Special Summon one to be tributed.

Light and Darkness Dragon

A powerful dragon card released in 2007, Light and Darkness Dragon has become one of the most sought after cards and is wildly known to be playable in nearly any deck. The site pojo.com rated it the number one card released in 2007.[8] The card itself possesses attack power higher than most other monsters commonly played, can negate the effects of other cards in exchange for weakening itself, and allows the player to special summon any monster in their Graveyard when destroyed. For these reasons it has become known to provide unprecedented field control, forcing opponents to play cards to purposely weaken the dragon enough to destroy it and then being forced to deal with whatever the player revives.[9] Multiple copies of the dragon are often featured in decks using Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, Destiny Hero - Malicious, Dark Magician of Chaos and Elemental Hero Stratos, with such decks relying on accumulating advantage through the dragon's effects and keeping a supply of monsters in play to tribute summon it.

Polymerization

Known simply as Fusion in the Japanese version, this is a Spell card that enables the user to combine certain monsters with one another (known as Fusion Material Monsters) into a new one (known as a Fusion Monster) to perform a "Fusion Summon." Generally monsters summoned in this way have a higher attack and defense than their original forms and inherit one or more of the effects of the material monsters in some form or another. This card is integral to many decks, and is used by many characters in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX main character Jaden Yuki arguably has his deck based on it, as most of his Elemental Hero monsters are weak without combining with one another.

A type of fusion monsters called "Evil Hero" mainly used by Jaden Yuki after being abbessed by the dark side of his is not used by Polymerization, but "Dark Fusion" another card used for fusing Elemental Heros to become Evil Heroes.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon

A dark dragon that is commonly seen as a counterpart to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Its link to Blue-Eyes is explicitly stated in the first movie: "The Blue-Eyes brings power, while the Red-Eyes brings potential". While the Blue-Eyes is stronger in terms of pure power, the Red-Eyes has a greater number of alternate forms that can overpower the Blue-Eyes. The Red-Eyes is one of Katsuya Jonouchi's (Joey Wheeler's) strongest cards. It originally belonged to Dinosaur Ryuzaki (Rex Raptor), but he bet it against Jonouchi in the hopes of seizing his Time Wizard. Jonouchi instead used that same card to fossilize Ryuzaki's dinosaur monsters and thus claimed victory, along with Dinosaur's favorite card.[10] The card goes on to become a key card in Jonouchi's deck, and he gradually integrates more and more cards to strengthen the dragon and call forth its alternate forms. In the Battle City arc, Jounochi loses the card to a Ghoul (Rare Hunter), which is then reclaimed by Yugi. Jounochi declines to take the card back, saying he would reclaim when he grows as a duelist and beats Yugi in a duel. Whilst the conclusion to their duel is never seen, following arcs in the anime show Jounochi has Red-Eyes in his deck, implying that he won.

The card is also used by Nightshroud and his host, Atticus Rhodes in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Nightshroud uses the full extent of the card's power through a wide array of cards based around it, including Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon. After Nightshroud is defeated, his spirit is sealed in the card and Atticus periodically calls on its power for assistance, though he does use Red Eyes outside of his Nightshroud form. Red-Eyes also makes an appearance in the first Yu-Gi-Oh! movie, as a card found by Shougo Aoyama, and finds himself under pursuit by Kaiba.

In 2008, the Structure Deck "Zombie World" was released and along with it, the Ultra Rare card, Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon, which is the zombie counterpart of Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

Other counterparts include Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, a cybernetic, metal-coated version of the Dragon which can special summon one Dragon from the player's graveyard every turn, and the newly introduced Sin Red-Eyes Black Dragon, a malevolent corruption of the original, which can be special summoned by removing a regular Red-Eyes Black Dragon from the deck itself, but cannot stay on the field without a Field Spell.

Card archetypes

Aliens

Aliens are a series of reptile monsters introduced in "Power of the Duelist", "Cyberdark Impact", "Strike of Neos","Crimson Crisis" and other packs. Alien cards usually focus on using A-Counters which allow the user to use a variety of choices such destruction, specific theft, revival and weakening a monster's attack.

Ancient Gears

Ancient Gear (Antique Gears in the original Japanese version) are a set of machine-type monsters used by Dr. Crowler in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. The cards can negate the effects of spells and traps that specifically target them, giving them some layer of protection against common stratiegs. The cards are a reference to war machines used by the Holy Roman Empire that utilized gears. Though human or animal shaped in nature, most of the cards in the series feature a helmet similar to those worn by members of the Roman guard.

Arcana Force

A series of cards used by the principal antagonist of the second season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Sartorius. The cards are based on the Major Arcanatarot cards, reflecting Sartorius's ability to see the future. In the anime, the cards spin and their position when the spin ends(upright or upside down) determine their effects, with the former position always conferring positive effects while the latter confers negative. In the OCG and TCG, a coin flip is used instead.

Archfiend

Archfiends didn’t get their own classification until they started being printed as such. The term is mostly used in English language cards instead of the term, 'demon', in the Japanese cards. Monsters such as Terrorking Archfiend, Skull Archfiend of Lightning, Archfiend Soldier, Archfiend General and the Synchro Monster Red Dragon Archfiend are part of this archetype. Some of the first of these cards were produced in a chess themed set, that had a chess board in the background of the artwork, and piece names in the card titles. These were released in the Dark Crisis and Dark Revelation booster packs. There was Terrorking, Infernalqueen, Darkbishop,Shadowknight, Desrook and Vilepawn, respectively. This batch all pretty much required the use of a card called Pandemonium, the field card that lets the player use the Archfiends without paying life points, and even allow some Archfiends to be on the field (Archfiend General). All cards with Demon in their name in the original card game were retroactively classified as Archfiends in the English version. This caused problems, as no consistency of names had been established to replace Demon in the English version, so many cards without Archfiend in their name were classified as Archfiends. This was confusing, as such information wasn't to be found on the cards themselves. Some of these cards include Lesser Fiend, Axe of Despair, Summoned Skull, and Shadow Tamer. In Yu-Gi-Oh GX, a shadow duelist named Titan used an archfiend-oriented deck.

Blackwings

A dark-archetype of Winged Beasts used by Crow in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, known as "Black Feathers" in the Japanese version. They can easily Synchro summon as they utilize special summoning effects to swarm your opponent, thus increasing the total level of monsters. Example: 'Shura the Blue Flame', level 4 1800 ATK 1200 DEF, have this card attack an opponents monster, discard 'Kalut the Moon Shadow' to increase his attack by 1400 points during the damage step until the end phase then since he destroyed a monster by battle special summon a Blackwing with 1500 ATK or less, a good choice would be 'Gale the Whirlwind' a level three tuner. You can then synchro summon a level seven Synchro Monster, a suggested card is 'Blackwing Armor Master' ATK 2500 DEF 1500, can't be destroyed by battle, no damage inflicted by battles involving that card. Attack a monster if it still stands place a 'Wedge Counter' on it, remove that Counter to make that monster's ATK and DEF 0.

Chaos

A deck-archetype that reigned over all tournaments prior to the creation of the Forbidden List, it is these monsters and "Yata-Garasu" that were blamed for the creation of the Forbidden List in the first place. The trademark Chaos cards are Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End (commonly abbreviated to CED), Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, and Chaos Sorcerer. When they were first released, Chaos Emperor Dragon and Black Luster Soldier were the two that were used, because Chaos Sorcerer's effect didn't seem to make it worth playing at the time. The original Chaos Deck relied on discarding Light and Dark Attribute monsters and removing them from play to meet the popular Special Summoning conditions of the Chaos monsters. With their powerful effects, ability to be easily summoned, and high attack power, the Chaos monsters could easily dominate an opponent. It is of popular opinion among the best players in the game that Black Luster Soldier is the better card, for its ability to remove from play helpful monsters used by many during this time such as, Sangan, Witch of The Black Forest, Sinister Serpent, and others that had to be sent to the graveyard to get their effects.

With Chaos Emperor Dragon in particular, players would use its effect while Sangan or Witch of the Black Forest was on their field by paying 1000 Life Points to destroying all cards on the field and in both players hands, allowing the player to search their deck for Yata-Garasu with either Sangan or Witch's effect once they went to the graveyard with CED's effect. With Yata, this could stop the opponent from drawing cards if it inflicted Life Pointdamage to them. The end result is a situation in which the opponent has no cards in their hand or on the field, and cannot draw, making it impossible for them to win, barring effect cards in their graveyard activating. This dangerous strategy has become known as a Yata-Lock, and both Yata-Garasu and Chaos Emperor Dragon were two of the cards on the first Forbidden List for this reason. After Chaos Emperor Dragon and Black Luster Soldier were banned, the Chaos theme didn't see much play until the release of the popular card, Cyber Dragon in the Cybernetic Revolution set. Along with Zaborg The Thunder Monarch and a few other Light and Dark attribute monsters being released, this allowed players to create competitive Chaos Decks once again, but this time with Chaos Sorcerer's. With its effect being a slightly weaker version of Black Luster Solder's but still being effective, Chaos Sorcerer quickly rose to being in the Top 8 decks for many tournaments until it too was banned. An update to the Forbidden list moved a new version of "Chaos Sorcerer" from the Forbidden status to Limited. The effect has been changed so that it cannot be Normal Summoned or Set.

Although Chaos as an archetype is now non-existent in competitive play, weaker versions of the Chaos monsters have been released such as Demise, King of Armageddon and Ruin, Queen of Oblivion. Various other monsters relying on summoning by removing cards in the graveyard from play are also commonly released, such as the Sky Scourges, two of which have abilities that mirror the abilities of Black Luster Soldier and Chaos Emperor Dragon.

Both of the Envoys are also used in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning and Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End were in the decks of the characters, Yugi and Kaiba, respectively in the original Yu-Gi-Oh series. Black Luster Soldier made an appearance and was played by the character Dimitri in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series, while he was using Yugi's stolen deck (although Yugi himself never used the card.[11] Chaos Emperor Dragon was used by Kaiba against the character, Zigfried von Schroeder[12].

Crystal Beasts

A set of cards belonging to Jesse Anderson in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX The Crystal Beasts (known as Gem Beasts in the Japanese version) were based on gemstones gathered from all over the world, and have the special ability to be treated as spell cards once they are destroyed, giving extra bonuses. From there, various support cards can be used to revive them. They have become stronger now that Jesse has retrieved the Ultimate Gem God, Rainbow Dragon; the trump card of the Crystal Beasts deck.

In the TCG, Crystal Beasts are able to quickly swarm the field using Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus and Crystal Blessing to amass Crystal Beasts in the spell/trap zones, then use Crystal Beacon and Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle to summon them all at once. Besides this, when four Crystal Beasts exist in the spell/trap zones, Crystal Abundance allows the player to send all cards on the field to the Graveyard and then summon an equal number of Crystal Beasts from the Graveyard. When used in such a fashion, Crystal Beast decks can accomplish a one-turn kill. Crystal Beasts are often used as a substitute for Continuous Spell Cards in Sacred Beast decks.[citation needed]

Cyber Girl

This series of cards are used by Alexis Rhodes from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. The monsters are all female monsters themed on ballet, such as Etoile Cyber, Blade Skater, Cyber Blader, Cyber Tutu, Cyber Gymnast and Cyber Prima. Their effects range from direct attack, card destruction, attack power increasing and not being destroyed by battle, depending on the monster. They were introduced in the third episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, titled A Duel In Love, in which Alexis brought out Cyber Blader, a fusion monster.

The background behind each of the Cyber Girls are all designed the same. With the backgrounds you can tell it is a Cyber Girl. They can be found in the Elemental Energy and Enemy of Justice expansions.

Destiny Heroes

A series of Dark-attribute Warriors, these are the trademark cards used by Aster Phoenix (Edo Phoenix in the Japanese version), introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. They are considered counterpart cards of protagonist Jaden'sElemental Heroes, and possess abilities pertaining to the passage of time, ranging from the displacement of his opponent's monsters into the future to the revival of his monsters or halving of his opponent's Life Points within a turn. In the same way, they have a wide support base of cards, some of which (Dark City, D-Cubic and Destiny Mirage) directly parallel the support (Skyscraper, Wroughtweiler and Elemental Mirage) for the Elemental Heroes.

Some of the Destiny Heroes include Diamond Dude (Diamondguy), Doom Lord (Devilguy), Dreadmaster (Dreadguy), Captain Tenacious (Diehardguy), Blade Master (Daggerguy) and Dogma (Dogmaguy). Many are based on various anti-heroes of British literature (such as Double Dude being a reference to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in contrast to American superhero-based Elemental Heroes). In the original series, all the Destiny Heroes had the suffix "Guy" and had names starting with "D" (Devilguy, Doomguy, Dogmaguy, etc). The only exceptions were Plasma (though the original name is Bloo-D, which D is still a main part of the name),Dread Servant,Darkangel (lacking the "Guy" suffix), and the Final D, which is the fusion of D-Heroes Dogma Guy and Bloo-D, also known as Dragoon D-End(Destiny End Dragoon).

Destiny Heroes served as a playable deck type, particularly while Elemental Hero Stratos was unrestricted.[13] This deck type has proven a popular choice and has featured in some of the top eight decklists in "Shonen Jump TCG Championship Series Tournaments".[14] Beyond this, a decktype known as "Diamond Dude Turbo" (abbreviated DDT) also exists, relying on using Diamond Dude's effect in tandem with Destiny Heroes "Malicious" and "Dasher", as well as "Card Trooper" and the Spells "Destiny Draw" and "Magical Stone Excavation". The Deck Revolves around using 'Destiny Draw and Magical Stone Excavation with "Diamond Dude"'s effect to gain card advantage, as costs are not paid with "Diamond Dude"'s effect.[15] "Malicious" and "Dasher" are sent to the Graveyard with the many discard effects featured in the deck so their effects can activate, allowing the player to get many monsters to the field. Another type of Destiny Hero deck is known as "Perfect Circle", which revolves around Destiny Hero - Disk Commander. By using cards like Destiny Draw and Foolish Burial to discard Disk Commander, players can then revive it continuously using Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, among other cards, and draw two cards every time Disk Commander is revived, allowing them to accumulate large hands with ease.

Earthbound Immortals

Known as Earthbound Gods(jibakushin?) in the Japanese version, Earthbound Immortals are powerful monsters used by the Dark Signers in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. Each of them represents one of the Nazca Lines which, in the anime, are powerful beasts that threatened the world 5000 years ago. When summoned, they absorb souls in order to give them power. Earthbound Immortals are particularly powerful in that they have the ability to attack the player directly and can not be chosen as an attack target, although the anime often introduces scenarios in which they can attack monsters and be attacked themselves. Also in the anime, they are immune to traps that directly effect them. They require a field spell to be active in order to be summoned, and they are destroyed if the field spell is destroyed (in the anime, this simply negates their effects.) There are seven Earthbound Immortal monsters, one for each Dark Signer, Uru (Roman Goodwin), Ccapac Apu (Kalin Kessler), Cusillu (Devak), Ccarayhua (Misty Tredwell), Aslla Piscu (Carly Carmine), Chacu Challua (Greiger) and Wiraqocha Rasca (Rex Goodwin).

Elemental Heroes

Elemental Heroes are the trademark of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX main protagonist, Jaden Yuki, as well as being the supporting cards for the Destiny Heroes belonging to Aster Phoenix (Edo Phoenix in Japanese). Elemental Hero decks rely heavily on fusion so as to gain the power to control the situation, as the basic Elemental Heros are weak on their own. Many (if not all) Elemental Heros also have their own specialized support cards.

Gadgets

A series of machine-type monsters whose effects allow players to search for relevant gadget monsters. They are Green Gadget, Red Gadget and Yellow Gadget. Each of the Gadgets can search each other from the player's deck. They are also supported by Stronghold the Moving Fortress, Boot Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo, Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon and Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera. They are found in the Machine Re-Volt Structure Deck.

Gadgets are a mildly well known set, due to their effects and appearance in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series. Players often use them to get ahead in what is considered card advantage, by gaining another Gadget in hand each time a gadget is summoned and protecting the Gadgets with numerous removal and negation-based cards like Sakuretsu Armor and Royal Oppression. The card known as Elemental Hero - Stratos (E. Hero Airman) tended to neutralize the use of Gadgets this way. Stratos has recently been restricted in play, allowing Gadget use to thrive again.

Gemini Monsters

Gemini Monsters (known as Dual Monsters in the OCG) are a subtype of Effect Monster. They have effects, but these effects must be "unlocked" by performing an additional Normal Summon on them while they are face-up on the field (known in the OCG as a Second Summon). Until then, they are treated as Normal Monsters on the field and in the graveyard. You can not special summon Gemini's from the hand or the deck by abilities that supports normal monsters, like "Ancient Rules", because they still count as Effect monsters while in the hand and Deck. However, since they count as Normal monsters while they are in the Graveyard, they benefit greatly from the many support cards that allow Normal Monsters to be summoned back from the Graveyard, like "Birthright". All Gemini Monsters to date are treated as Normal Monsters while they are face-up on the field before being Gemini Summoned, or while they are in the Graveyard. If they exist anywhere else, they are treated as Effect Monsters. The process of Gemini Summoning a Gemini Monster (that is being treated as a Normal Monster by its effect) is just the same as performing any other Normal Summon, except that the monster is already on the field and you don't have to Tribute monsters for Gemini Monsters of Level 5 or above. You cannot Gemini Summon a Gemini Monster that has already been Gemini Summoned (and is still considered to have been Gemini Summoned). Once a Gemini Monster has been Gemini Summoned, it is then treated as an Effect Monster and it gains the effect(s) written on it.

In order to Gemini summon you must normal summon the Gemini monster again but if you do this you can not normal summon a monster in the same turn you do this in. While this entire process seems very troublesome to go through for just one monster, note that Gemini monsters usually have extremely powerful effects, often without a drawback. The Gemini Monsters were initially released in Tactical Evolution, with more released in Gladiator's Assault, Phantom Darkness, Light of Destruction, Structure Deck 17: Warrior's Strike and Stardust Overdrive Booster Pack.

Gladiator Beasts

This series of cards was released in the Gladiator's Assault booster pack and is based in the strategy and effort of activating their effects. Most Gladiator Beast monsters have the ability of "tag" with another Beast in the deck and summoning it onto the field to activate its effect. The effect reads "At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card attacked or was attacked, you can return it to the Deck to Special Summon 1 Gladiator Beast monster from your Deck, except a copy of the same monster". The most powerful Gladiator Beast in the TCG is Gladiator Beast Octavius with 2500 ATK Points. These monsters also have a "Contact Fusion" theme just like the Neo-Spacians with E-Hero Neos sending the monster to the Deck instead of the Graveyard and no need of Polymerization and so far 3 fusions have 1 card from your hand; this effect does not have a limit so it can be use multiple times. Other Gladiator Beasts include Gladiator Beast Murmillo, Gladiator Beast Bestiari,Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and others. Usually, one card or more comes in a pack to support this Deck. The names of this monsters have been taken from gladiator classes in the Roman period or real characters in the time such as Alexander the Great and Octavius. It has yet to be confirmed if this series of cards will be shown in the Anime series. Of all the deck types used in tournament gameplay, this is one of the most well-known and powerful. It is also one of the few deck types which all cards in the series are unlimited (With the exception of Gladiator Beast Bestiari being limited).

Harpie Lady

The Harpie Lady cards were made famous by the anime character Mai Valentine. They are all winged-beast cards of the wind attribute. They are cards based on the Harpies in Greek mythology. However instead of appearing as ugly, they are quite beautiful. The monsters include Harpie Lady, Cyber Harpie Lady, Harpie Queen, Harpie Girl and Harpie Lady Sisters. Support cards include Elegant Egotist, Triangle Ecstasy Spark, and Harpie's Hunting Ground (making the Harpies one of the few archetypes to have their own specific field spell). Their support monsters, Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon and Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack points and special abilities are increased by the Harpie Lady monsters. Harpies combine the ability to be rapidly summoned, to destroy the opponent's cards, and to increase each other's attack and defense points. Properly played, Harpies can overwhelm the opponent in moments with high attack power and powerful effects, but they are individually not too strong, so they are vulnerable to opponents who Summon strong single Monsters early to whittle down the number of Harpies on the field.

Lightsworns

A series of LIGHT monsters who's effects are based on sending cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard, whether it be for a cost of a particular card or the effect of a Lightsworn monster. Due to the speed at which this archetype depletes the number of cards in your deck, running out of cards and decking out is always a risk. However, many of the Lightsworns are built for speed and ending the game quickly. In addition, the deck has a boss monster known as Judgment Dragon, which can basically reset the field and strike for heavy amounts of damage. If built correctly, sending cards from the top of your deck to the graveyard each turn will help the player much more than hurt him, and Lightsworn can be a deadly, and often frustrating, deck to be paired off against. A way to counter this is to use a removal deck, 'Banisher of Radiance' is useful because any cards sent to the graveyard are removed from play instead, if you activate 'Return from the Different Dimension' for half your LP you can Special summon your removed monsters.

Monarchs

A series of cards whose effects are triggered when Tribute Summoned, allowing the player to remove cards from the field or hand in some manner. The members include Zaborg, Mobius, Thestalos, and Granmarg. They were later joined by three new Monarchs: Raiza, Caius and Kuraz. The effects all deal with the disposal of cards. All the Monarchs have 2400 attack points, 1000 defense points and are level six with the exception of Zaborg who is level five. The Monarchs were initially released in Ancient Sanctuary with Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Single monarchs have been released in the following sets:

The "four elemental" Monarchs are used in the anime by the "Light Brigade" led by Sarina, Sartorius' sister. This arc depicts four duelists who each use decks based around their Monarch's elemental inclination (ice, thunder, fire, earth).[16]

The Monarchs are very popular deck theme in the real life Trading Card Game, often featuring in top eight decklists in major tournaments. Monarch decks usually focus on Tribute Summoning Monarchs without losing any card advantage by tributing monsters. This is often done with cards such as Treeborn Frog, Brain Control and Soul Exchange.[17]

Morphtronics

Morphtronics, known as Deformers in the Japanese versions, are an Archetype of monsters debuting in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. They are used by Leo in the anime, and were introduced in the Set "Crossroads of Chaos". They're continued in the sets, Crimson Crisis and Raging Battle. Their effects are dictated by their Battle Position.

They are depicted in how they "morph" when they change their Battle Position, which changes their effect and appearance (humanoid form in Attack Position; item form in Defense Position). They transform into small household items, like magnets and mobile phones. Despite their appearances, Morphtronics are not all Machine type monsters and they also represent a wide array of Attributes. These cards may be based on the entire Transformers toyline that are still very popular.

Morphtronics are low in Level and have low ATK and DEF, but often have effects that can rapidly boost their collective power. Because of their low levels they benefit from cards such as Gravity Bind or Morphtronic Bind and Level Limit - Area B. They also benefit from Light of Intervention so that they can be Normal Summoned in face-up Defense Position.

Neo-Spacians

Another set of cards Jaden had in his deck during season 2. The six alien monsters, each based on a manga design, originated from Neo Space and came to help Jaden fight the Society of Light. They were designed by Jaden, printed by Kaiba, and sent into space (where Jaden later finds them) in order to share the game with alien life. The ideas which led to their creation, while appearing to simply be the overactive mind of a childhood Jaden, are in reality linked to his past life as the King of Neo Space. Their unique ability, other than their effect, is that they can evoke Contact Fusions with Elemental Hero Neos, upgrading his form with their power, without using Polymerization. Its members are composed of Aqua Dolphin, Flare Scarab, Air Hummingbird, Grand Mole, Glow Moss, and Dark Panther, with each being of a different Attribute. Each Neo-Spacian has a "Chrysalis" version of itself that acts as an aide to summoning them.

The Neo-Spacians are typically lacking in power, but have powerful effects to compensate: the effects of the Contact Fused-Neos is typically an upgraded version of this effect. They also have several Contact and Coccoon cards that let them Special Summon themselves. They even have their own field card, Neo Space, to counteract the return of Contact Fused-Neos cards back to the Fusion Deck. Recently, Neos has been shown to have the ability to Contact Fuse more than one Neo-Spacian at the same time, leading to Chaos Neos, Storm Neos, and Magma Neos.

Neos also has forms created using regular Fusion methods: Rainbow Neos, a fusion with Rainbow Dragon; and Elemental Hero Divine Neos, which is a fusion of Neos and all six Neo-Spacians in the anime. In the TCG, it is a fusion of Neos, at least one other Elemental Hero, at least one Neo-Spacian and two other monsters, which can be Elemental Heroes, Neo-Spacians, Destiny Heroes or Evil Heroes.

In the TCG Neo-Spacian Grand Mole has seen the most play because of its ability to send a monster back to a players hand simply by attacking it. The effect activates before Damage Calculation so there are no Life Points lost by doing this. A "Mole-Lock" can be created in this way by using its effect in combination with Ultimate Offering, returning all your opponents' cards on the field to their hand. The card is one of two (the other being Elemental Hero Stratos) Elemental Hero-related cards that have been limited.

Ojama Trio

A set of cards, used by Chazz Princeton in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. The members include Ojama Yellow, Ojama Green, and Ojama Black. Ojama Yellow initially served as Chazz's only duel spirit. But after forced into a duel where Chazz could only use monsters with 500 or less attack points Chazz acquired the other two brothers much to his annoyance.[18] In the English version, Ojama Yellow has a high-pitched, falsetto voice, while Ojama Black and Ojama Green have voices similar to Moe and Curly of The Three Stooges.

Each Ojama has 0 attack points and 1000 defence points. Although weak in appearance, they host a great deal of support cards, such as Ojama Delta Hurricane! and Ojamagic and two fusions, Ojama King and Ojama Knight, who cuts the Monster Spaces on an opponent's field by 3 and 2 respectively. Ojama King lacks in ATK power also, but has 3000 DEF, which can trump most attackers, such as Ancient Gear Golem.

The support card Ojama Trio is often used by players in the TCG who are using burn decks (a deck type that focuses on inflicting direct damage to the opponent via card effects, as opposed to battle damage).[19] Ojama Trio places three Ojama tokens on the opponents side of the field, restricting their opponent's ability to summon, allowing Just Desserts and Secret Barrel to inflict more damage, and also inflicting 300 points of damage when each token is destroyed.

Recently, new Ojama cards Ojama Red and Ojama Blue have been released, as well as a support Field Spell Ojama Country in the booster pack Raging Battle.

Sacred Beasts

The Sacred Beasts(三幻魔,Sangenma?, Three Phantom Demons in the Japanese anime) are prominent plot points in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Known as Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, and Raviel, Lord of Phantasms. They are dark counterparts to the God cards, but their history and reason for existing are not made clear. The Chancellor of Duel Academy mentions a legend that they have the power to destroy Duel Monster cards by absorbing their energy, and they were thus sealed on the island. Like the God cards, the Beasts are depicted as the most powerful of all Duel Monsters in GX and serve essentially the same purpose as the God cards did in the original anime.

The main antagonist of the first season, Kagemaru, used the cards to drain energy to rejuvenate his aged body, but was defeated. The antagonist of the third season, Yubel, also used them for the same purpose of rejuvenating itself. Yubel also reveals the Sacred Beasts have a combined form, Armityle, the Chaos Phantom, although its design and role differ greatly from the combined form of the God Cards. These monsters reflect the Egyptian God Cards; Slifer the Sky Dragon, Winged Dragon of Ra & Obelisk the Tormentor. The Sacred Beast Cards work well with any duelist playing a Chaos deck.[citation needed] However, unlike the Egyptian God Cards, Sacred Beast Cards are not directly immune to trap, spell and monster effect cards.[20][21]

Signer Dragons

Five Dragon/Synchro monsters who play a pivotal role in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, which introduces the concept of Synchro/Tuner monsters into the game. Each dragon is the signature card of one of "Signers", the series' main characters. They are Stardust Dragon (Yusei Fudo), Red Dragon Archfiend (Jack Atlas), Black Rose Dragon (Akiza Izinski), Ancient Fairy Dragon (Luna) and Black Feather Dragon (Crow Hogan). More powerful forms of Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend called Assault Mode can be used with the respective trap card. A tuner monster called Majestic Dragon can be tuned with Stardust Dragon or Red Dragon Archfiend and another Lv1 monster to Synchro Summon the more powerful Majestic Star Dragon and Majestic Red Dragon. A common trait of the Majestic versions, apart from higher ATK, DEF and stronger effects, is their capacity to "steal" a special effect of an enemy monster to themselves. It is not yet known if the other dragons have Majestic versions. In the anime series, all Signer Dragons are related to a yet unrevealed monster, the Crimson Dragon.

Sin Monsters

Monsters used by Paradox in Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie: Super Fusion! Bonds that Transcend Time. During the movie, Paradox steals monsters from various characters from the various series, and plays dangerous 'Sin' versions of them. They are special summoned by removing their counterparts in the Deck or Extra Deck from play. Similar to Earthbound Immortals, they require a field spell to be in play to remain on the field. The Sin Monsters Paradox possesses are Sin Stardust Dragon, Sin Cyber End Dragon, Sin Rainbow Dragon, Sin Blue Eyes White Dragon and Sin Red Eyes Black Dragon. Outside of the monsters he had stolen, Paradox has his own personal Sin monsters, Sin Parallel Gear, Sin Paradox Dragon and Sin Truth Dragon.

Toons

"Toons" are a set of monsters utilized by Duel Monsters creator Maximillion Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the original version) throughout the series. The cards are unavailable to other duelists in the anime, as Pegasus himself owns the only copies. The cards consist of "cartoon" version of other monsters, including Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The cards are generally immune to damage by monsters, but are destroyed if their "Toon World" support card is removed from the field. Pegasus uses the monsters in almost all of his duels, including his appearance in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

The monsters, albeit with watered-down effects, were released early in the real card game's history. The cards are parodies of depictions of characters in American cartoons.

Warriors and Synchrons

"Warriors" are a set of Warrior-type cards most commonly used by Yusei Fudo in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. In most duels, Yusei would start off with Speed Warrior, whose attack doubles on the turn it is summoned. Four of his Warrior cards, Junk Warrior, Turbo Warrior, Nitro Warrior and Road Warrior, are Synchro Monsters at levels 5, 6, 7 and 8 respectively. Similarly, he has 4 matching "Synchron" monsters, Junk Synchron, Turbo Synchron, Nitro Synchron and Road Synchron, that he uses for Synchro summoning, often using the respective Tuner for each Synchro Monster. These monsters often have effects that support the summoning of Synchro Material Monsters. Most of his Warriors are speed-themed, with designs based on vechiles and car parts. Other Warriors and Synchrons in Yusei's deck includes Max Warrior, Junk Archer, Level Warrior, Turret Warrior, Fortress Warrior, Shield Warrior and Quickdraw Synchron. The monsters Drill Warrior and Drill Synchron were created by a viewer in a contest held by the anime.[22]

Wicked God Cards

The Gods(邪神,Jashin?), introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! R, are a trio of cards owned by Pegasus' protégé and adopted son, Yakou Tenma. Tournament-legal versions of the cards, known as The Wicked Dreadroot, The Wicked Avatar and The Wicked Eraser, exist in the OCG, released alongside the June 2005, February 2007, and March 2007 respective issues of V Jump. Their TCG equivalents have been released in United States Shonen Jump, with The Wicked Eraser included in the magazine's September 2007 issue, The Wicked Avatar included in the November 2007 issue, and The Wicked Dreadroot was included in the January 2008 issue. The Wicked God Cards slowly made their introduction in Yugioh! R.

In terms of the anime, the founding of these cards are hidden away by Pegasus, after the release of the first 3 God Cards and the unfortunate events which followed them, the thought of having these cards in the wrong hands would be too great of a risk. When they had been discovered by Yakou Tenma, who is Pegasus' protege, they were thoroughly impossible to impede.